Related papers: Temporal evolution of longitudinal bunch profile i…
We propose a new method for self-injection of high-quality electron bunches in the plasma wakefield structure in the blowout regime utilizing a "flying focus" produced by a drive beam with an energy chirp. In a flying focus the speed of the…
One approach to future high energy particle accelerators is based on the wakefield principle: a leading high-charge drive bunch is used to excite fields in an accelerating structure or plasma that in turn accelerates a trailing low-charge…
We use 3D simulations to demonstrate that high-quality ultra-relativistic electron bunches can be generated upon reflection of a twisted laser beam off a plasma mirror. The unique topology of the beam with a twist index $|l| = 1$ creates an…
Matched beam loading in laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA), characterizing the state of flattening of the acceleration electric field along the bunch, leads to the minimization of energy spread at high bunch charges. Here, we demonstrate…
The FLASHForward experimental facility is a high-performance test-bed for precision plasma-wakefield research, aiming to accelerate high-quality electron beams to GeV-levels in a few centimetres of ionised gas. The plasma is created by…
In this paper, we investigate the effect of spectral pulse shaping of the laser driver on the performance of channel-guided, laser-plasma accelerators. The study was carried out with the assistance of Bayesian optimization using…
As charged particle bunches become shorter and more intense, the effects of nonlinear intra-bunch collective interactions such as space charge forces and bunch-to-bunch influences such as wakefields and coherent synchrotron radiation also…
Free-electron lasers (FELs) provide a revolutionary tool for capturing the structure and dynamics of matter in real time at the atomic scale. The size and cost of FELs can be substantially reduced by using laser wakefield acceleration…
The energy gain in laser wakefield accelerators is limited by dephasing between the driving laser pulse and the highly relativistic electrons in its wake. Since this phase depends on both the driver and the cavity length, the effects of…
The development of fast detection methods for comprehensive monitoring of electron bunches is a prerequisite to gain comprehensive control over the synchrontron emission in storage rings with their MHz repetition rate. Here, we present a…
The electric field in laser-driven plasma wakefield acceleration is orders of magnitude higher than conventional radio-frequency cavities, but the energy gain is limited by dephasing between the ultra-relativistic electron bunch and the…
Free Electron Lasers (FEL) are commonly regarded as the potential key application of laser wakefield accelerators (LWFA). It has been found that electron bunches exiting from state-of-the-art LWFAs exhibit a normalized 6-dimensional beam…
Particle acceleration in a quasilinear plasma wake provides access to high acceleration gradients while avoiding self-trapping of the background electrons. However, the plasma response to the externally injected witness bunch leads to a…
We present experimental results on a plasma wakefield accelerator (PWFA) driven by high-current electron beams from a laser wakefield accelerator (LWFA). In this staged setup stable and high quality (low divergence and low energy spread)…
The plasma photocathode has previously been proposed as a source of ultra-high-brightness electron bunches within plasma accelerators. Here, the scheme is extended by using a radially-polarized ionizing laser pulse to generate high-charge,…
The injection of electrons into a laser wakefield accelerator (LWFA) is observed to generate an intense coherent ultra-broadband and ultrashort pulse radiation flash, consistent with the acceleration of electrons from rest to nearly the…
We investigate the extension of self-injecting laser wakefield experiments to the regime that will be accessible with the next generation of petawatt class ultra-short pulse laser systems. Using linear scalings, current experimental trends…
High-resolution longitudinal phase-space (LPS) diagnostics are essential for X-ray free-electron lasers and advanced accelerators. Conventional radio-frequency transverse deflecting structures (TDSs) provide direct femtosecond-scale LPS…
Laser wakefield accelerators promise to revolutionise many areas of accelerator science. However, one of the greatest challenges to their widespread adoption is the difficulty in control and optimisation of the accelerator outputs due to…
Precise characterization and tailoring of the spatial and temporal evolution of plasma density within plasma sources is critical for realizing high-quality accelerated beams in plasma wakefield accelerators. The simultaneous use of two…